Oz Perkins is an American filmmaker, screenwriter, and actor best known for directing the 2024 psychological horror thriller Longlegs, which starred Maika Monroe and Nicolas Cage and earned $128 million worldwide.
He is also the son of Anthony Perkins, the actor who played Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, a family legacy that has shaped his entire approach to horror filmmaking.
Who is Oz Perkins?
Oz Perkins, born Osgood Robert Perkins II, is a director, screenwriter, and actor who has spent two decades building one of the most distinctive voices in American horror.
He made his directorial debut in 2015 with The Blackcoat’s Daughter and has since directed six feature films. His 2024 film Longlegs became the highest-grossing film in Neon’s history.
It opened to $22.6 million in its first weekend, doubling pre-release tracking projections, and finished its theatrical run with $128 million worldwide on a budget under $10 million.
Perkins has worked consistently across both sides of the camera. As an actor, he appeared in films from Psycho II (1983) to Legally Blonde (2001) and even took a small role in Jordan Peele’s Nope (2022).
His directorial and writing work, though, defines his career today.
In May 2025, Perkins co-founded the production company Phobos with producer Chris Ferguson. The company then signed a first-look deal with Neon.
Early Life of Oz Perkins
Perkins grew up in Manhattan and Los Angeles, the elder son of actor Anthony Perkins and photographer and actress Berry Berenson.
Both parents worked in the arts, and the household gave him early exposure to cinema, storytelling, and photography.
His grandfather Osgood Perkins was also an actor, and his great-grandmother Elsa Schiaparelli was the legendary Italian fashion designer. His aunt Marisa Berenson is a well-known actress and model.
His brother is Elvis Perkins, a musician, who later contributed the musical score to Oz’s directorial debut, The Blackcoat’s Daughter.
Two profound personal losses shaped Perkins’ upbringing. His father, Anthony Perkins, died in 1992 after battling AIDS.
Then on September 11, 2001, his mother Berry Berenson was on board American Airlines Flight 11, one of the planes that struck the World Trade Center.
Oz Perkins Age / Birthday
Oz Perkins is 52 years old as of 2026, born on February 2, 1974. His zodiac sign is Aquarius, a sign often linked with independent thinking and creative originality.
At 52, he is in the most prolific phase of his career, with four directorial credits released between 2024 and 2025 alone.
Oz Perkins Ethnicity and Nationality
Oz Perkins is American by nationality, born and raised in New York City and Los Angeles.
His background is a mix of American and European heritage through his father’s side and the Berenson family, which includes Italian-French roots through his great-grandmother Elsa Schiaparelli.
That artistic European legacy is part of a family tree that spans acting, fashion, academia, and visual art.
Oz Perkins Height and Weight
Oz Perkins stands 6 feet 4 inches tall, or 1.93 meters. His weight is not publicly confirmed.
His tall, lean frame is distinct and has made him a recognizable figure both in front of the camera and on red carpets promoting his directorial work.
Oz Perkins Education
Perkins attended Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles, a well-regarded college preparatory institution.
He later enrolled at New York University, where he studied at the film school for one year before transferring to the USC film school for two semesters. He ultimately returned to NYU and completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in English.
In an interview, Perkins stated that as a teenager he was obsessed with Tim Burton and Stanley Kubrick and planned from early on to become a film director.
Life, as he put it, “took its various twists and turns,” and he did not make his first feature until he was 41.
Oz Perkins Career
Early Acting Work (1983-2010)
Perkins began his career as a child actor with a brief but notable role in Psycho II (1983), playing 12-year-old Norman Bates in a flashback scene.
His father, Anthony Perkins, played the adult Norman Bates in the same film, reprising the role he made famous in Hitchcock’s original Psycho (1960).
His next film role came a decade later in Six Degrees of Separation (1993), playing Woody. Screenwriter John Guare had been a friend of the Perkins family and had first met Oz at his father’s birthday party.
The following year, Perkins appeared in Wolf (1994), directed by Mike Nichols, another family friend who took notice of Perkins after Anthony died.
By 2001, he had taken on the role of Dorky David in Legally Blonde, the Reese Witherspoon comedy.
That same year, he appeared in Not Another Teen Movie, followed by Secretary (2002) and several TV appearances on series including Alias.
His acting work continued through Star Trek (2009), where he played a Starfleet Academy trainee, and Removal (2010), for which he was also a co-writer.
Transition to Writing and Directing (2010-2020)
After Removal, Perkins shifted his focus behind the camera. He wrote the thriller Cold Comes the Night (2013) and contributed as a screenwriter on The Girl in the Photographs (2015).
His directorial debut came in 2015 with The Blackcoat’s Daughter, a slow-burn horror film set at a boarding school during winter break.
The score was composed by his brother Elvis Perkins. Critics praised the film’s atmosphere and psychological tension.
Perkins followed up with I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House (2016), a Netflix horror film centered on an elderly writer, her nurse, and a haunted house. Both his children, James and Beatrix, appeared in the film.
In 2020, he directed Gretel & Hansel, a visually distinctive fairy-tale horror film starring Sophia Lillis and Samuel Leakey.
The film earned around $22 million against a $5 million production budget for United Artists Releasing.
Longlegs, The Monkey, and the Phobos Era (2022-Present)
Perkins took on a small acting role in Jordan Peele’s Nope (2022), playing Fynn Bachman.
Soon after, he returned to directing with Longlegs (2024), a serial killer horror-thriller starring Maika Monroe as an FBI agent and Nicolas Cage as the occultist killer of the title.
Neon released the film on July 12, 2024. Its opening weekend of $22.6 million was Neon’s best ever, surpassing Parasite.
The total worldwide gross of $128 million, achieved on a production budget under $10 million, made it the highest-grossing film in Neon’s history and the most successful R-rated horror film of 2024.
In February 2025, Perkins released The Monkey, his adaptation of Stephen King’s short story of the same name.
The film starred Theo James, Tatiana Maslany, Elijah Wood, and Adam Scott, with James Wan as a lead producer.
It opened to $14 million domestically, the second-best debut in Neon’s history, and earned $68.9 million worldwide on a $10 million budget.
His third film of 2025, Keeper, arrived in November. It starred Tatiana Maslany and Rossif Sutherland and was the first Perkins film he did not write himself. The film earned $2.5 million domestically in its opening weekend.
By April 2026, Perkins had moved to Paramount for a new project set in the Longlegs universe, developed alongside Nicolas Cage.
He also had The Young People in post-production for Neon, co-starring Lola Tung and Nico Parker.
Oz Perkins Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | Psycho II | Actor | Young Norman Bates |
| 1993 | Six Degrees of Separation | Actor | |
| 1994 | Wolf | Actor | |
| 2001 | Legally Blonde | Actor | Dorky David |
| 2009 | Star Trek | Actor | Starfleet trainee |
| 2010 | Removal | Actor / Writer | |
| 2015 | The Blackcoat’s Daughter | Director / Writer | |
| 2016 | I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House | Director / Writer | Netflix |
| 2020 | Gretel & Hansel | Director | |
| 2022 | Nope | Actor | |
| 2024 | Longlegs | Director / Writer | $128M worldwide |
| 2025 | The Monkey | Director / Writer | $68.9M worldwide |
| 2025 | Keeper | Director |
Oz Perkins Wife and Divorce
Oz Perkins married Sidney Perkins on December 4, 1999. The couple lived together for nearly 17 years before Perkins filed for divorce in July 2016.
He requested joint custody of their two children, James and Beatrix, and asked the court to defer decisions on spousal support.
The divorce was finalized in 2016. Wikipedia confirms that Perkins also has a third child, a son, from a subsequent relationship. He has not spoken publicly in detail about this later relationship.
Oz Perkins Children
Perkins and Sidney Perkins have two children together. Their son, James Ripley Osgood Robert Perkins III, was born in 2004, and their daughter, Beatrix Perkins, was born in 2008.
Both James and Beatrix appeared as actors in their father’s 2016 film I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House. Perkins also has a third son from a later relationship.
Oz Perkins Net Worth
Oz Perkins’ estimated net worth is $3 million as of 2026. His income comes primarily from directing, screenwriting, and producing, with the major leap coming after Longlegs became a global indie box office phenomenon.
His directing fees and producing credit on multiple Neon releases, combined with his first-look deal through Phobos with Neon, represent the core of his recent earnings.
Longlegs earned $128 million worldwide on a $10 million budget, and The Monkey added roughly $68.9 million more.
Both films were produced with Perkins in a writer-director role, giving him multiple income streams on each project.
Earlier in his career, Perkins earned income from acting work in projects including Legally Blonde (2001), Star Trek (2009), and Nope (2022).
His move into directing expanded his earning power well beyond what acting alone had provided.
Oz Perkins Social Media
Perkins is active on Instagram, where he posts about his films and projects. His IMDb profile carries a full record of his acting and directing credits across four decades.
Conclusion
Oz Perkins spent years working steadily on the fringes of Hollywood before Longlegs placed him at the center of indie horror’s commercial conversation.
His background as the son of Anthony Perkins, shaped by personal grief and a decades-long education in cinema, runs through every frame of his films.